A Boy Named Jack

A nice day, a book, a story, and a song—My Sunday Best #93 (Monday’s Issue)

On most Sundays, I do two things—I write My Sunday Best and get my friend’s podcast edited and uploaded to YouTube. Yesterday, I did neither. Fortunately, I finished the podcast the night before. Instead, I felt the need to spend every waking moment outside. Something about a warm day in the middle of winter beckons me to play hooky from any previous plans.

I started out my day with a walk in the woods, listening to the Audible book The Tao of Pooh. My sister recommended this book, and I love it. As I walked back up the driveway, I heard the following conversation between Piglet and Pooh in my earbuds.

"Say, Pooh, why aren't you busy?" I said."Because it's a nice day," said Pooh."But you could be doing something Important," I said. "I am," said Pooh."Oh? Doing what?" "Listening," he said. "Listening to what?" "To the birds. And that squirrel over there." "What are they saying?" I asked. "That it's a nice day," said Pooh. "But you know that already," I said. "Yes, but it's always good to hear that somebody else thinks so, too," he said. --From The Tao of Pooh

I couldn’t have agreed more. Yes, it was a nice day, and I certainly didn’t want to miss a minute. As evening drew near, my husband and I gathered our lawn chairs around the chiminea and enjoyed a perfect February evening—no wind, no bugs, a star-filled sky above, and easy conversation with a couple of good friends. We laughed and talked about places we’ve lived, people we’ve met, and dozens of other memorable moments acquired throughout our lifetimes as words floated through the air and dissolved into the darkness like the sparks from the chiminea. At one point, I asked my friend if she liked to read historical fiction. When she said yes, I told her about a book I’d read that inspired the song A Boy Named Jack.

The book A Separate Country was written by Robert Hicks and set in New Orleans after the Civil War. The inspiration for the song came from a few lines about a young girl who had experienced incredible loss, including the death of her mother and siblings. The line read, “She likes the things in her life that have been named Joan.” In the story, she had a pony named Joan, and she called every butterfly Joan. Upon reading that line, I set the book down and let my mind wander about the significance a name can have in a person’s life. I started thinking about names that had reappeared with different faces throughout my life. Jack was the name of a childhood playmate, a favorite dog, and a rodeo bronc that bucked cowboys off but outside of the arena was as gentle as a lamb.

When a song starts stirring in my heart, related ideas begin to show up everywhere. One day I was walking in the park in Nashville, and I saw two small boys poking sticks in the mud. I asked them if they were finding anything. The older boy said, “No.” Then his younger brother looked up at me with a twinkle in his eye and the sweetest Southern accent I had ever heard and said, “I think there’s a crayfish in there.” I said, “I think you’re right.”

These stories all intertwined and became something new.

In my story of A Boy Named Jack, a childhood friend, a dog, and a rodeo bronc carried the same name. Since I wrote this song, there are others. I played this song for a well-known publisher in Nashville, who said, “I love the poetic lines of the song, I just don’t like the name Jack.” I guess that’s not my story, it’s hers.

Listen to the song here A Boy Named Jack

A Boy Named Jack

A boy named Jack
We’d spend hours
back when the days were long
Building castles
Poking sticks down in the mud
Sharing lunch from a paper sack
Friends forever, we’d made a pact
That boy named Jack

It’s a vein of gold,
That runs through this beating heart
It’s what I know
When life comes down a little hard
That sometimes it’s ok to look back
To that boy named Jack

There was a horse named Jack
He was a tough ol’ bronc in the rodeo
But at home 
I used to slide up on his back
We’d watch the clouds roll by
Friends forever, we’d made a pact
That horse named Jack

Friends like that aren’t something that you find
They’re just there, I didn’t even notice at the time
It sounds funny now, but I’ve loved everything
In my life named Jack.

Listen to the song A Boy Named Jack